


Made to Suffer

by aravenwood



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 09:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13143594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aravenwood/pseuds/aravenwood
Summary: Loki finds himself trapped at the hands of several humans who want him dead.





	Made to Suffer

**Author's Note:**

> Written for justwhumpythings over on tumblr as part of the Winter Whumperland 2017 fic exchange. 
> 
> Hope you like it!

For a long while, Loki was left alone, and he was able to convince himself that this was fine, that this was the worst they could do – leaving him in a locked room on his own with no sustenance and no stimulation. He could deal with both of these things – had dealt with both of them during his imprisonment by Odin. He liked to think he’d adapted to be able to thrive in a situation like this, and for a while he honestly considered that to be the case; it had been a while since he’d been one to one with his thoughts, and now was his chance.

But it wasn’t long before his body’s protests became a constant distraction. Sometimes it was his stomach crying out for food; sometimes his lips and throat demanded hydration; sometimes his entire body tried to give in as the room temperature fluctuated from very hot to very cold in only a few minutes. Every interval of pain caused by the deprivation was excruciating.

He wondered sometimes if his captors even knew what was happening to him or if they thought he was suffering some sort of breakdown from the solitary confinement.

Then one day, two of them showed their faces and he very nearly broke down laughing. They weren’t Asgardians looking for revenge over his deceit nor were they enemies of his brother looking for a hostage – they were human. Two men in denim and plaid, their fingers worn and nails broken, eyes dark and frightening like so many warriors he’d faced in battle. They were built like warriors too, but instead of swords and shields one carried a thick wooden stick while the other had a much thinner metal one. Both grinned as they laid eyes upon him.

“You must be hungry,” the one with the metal stick said, leaning casually on the stone wall nearest to the door. “As soon as we’re done here we’ll bring you something to eat.”

The other one nodded in agreement. “Of course, we might not be done for a while. You know how it is to get carried away with your work,” he added and gave Loki a wide-eyed grin and then a wink. He tapped the wooden stick against the wall, causing the small room to echo each beat.

Loki twisted his body so both men were in his line of sight. “You have no idea how out of your depth you are. You think you can hold _me_?” he sneered and rose to his feet. his head spun for a second but he was able to catch himself before he could stumble – wouldn’t that just ruin the fear he was trying to incite.

“We’ve done a good job so far – you’re still here, aren’t you?” you may be a god or whatever you are, but even you’ll break if we bend you far enough. I bet you’re feeling pretty rough round about now. Hunger and dehydration can do that to you.” The one with the wooden bat turned to his companion and said, “he’s looking awful pale, ain’t he Tommy?”

The other man – Tommy – nodded his agreement.

Loki realised quickly enough that these men must have done this before with another human. They spoke to him as if he should be near-death, begging them gasps to feed and water him. as it was, he was only struggling with a little light-headedness and some pain deep down. Nothing to beg about. Nothing to fear. He was actually a little embarrassed for them.

He stretched his muscles out and smirked. “Why don’t you come back in a few days and say that again? Or you could always save yourself the time and let me go.” Without really thinking, he cast off a second version of himself and sent the doppelganger charging at his captors with a knife in its hand. As it jumped and flew through the air towards the one whose name he hadn’t yet learned, he could feel it pulling at his energy. Who could’ve imagined that a mental exercise like a little magic could be so draining?

He barely had time to consider it as his body was suddenly wracked with pain.

The doppelganger flickered in and out of existence before finally disappearing. Loki ignored it in favour of wrapping his arms around himself as if that alone could hold back the pain, and whinnying through his teeth. His knees buckled and he fell hard, the solid ground sending further shockwaves through his legs – he barely acknowledged this second wave, barely felt it as the pain receptors throughout his body fought against an overload.

As he pulled one hand away from his middle to steady himself on the ground, he caught a flash of red on one palm. “What-?” he began to say. A sadistic cackle interrupted him.

Tommy flashed him a grin. “You didn’t notice Charles?” He waved a hand in Loki’s direction, who glanced over his shoulder and sure enough found a third man, this one as muscular as Thor and with the same deep blue eyes. Charles, however, had a dangerous glint to his eyes that Thor lacked, and rather than dressing in such a way as to keep his muscles on display, Charles wore long sleeves whose tightness appeared to be more of an inconvenience than a style choice. Loki was sufficiently alarmed by him, moreso of his existence than his appearance. Charles was clearly meant to intimidate and, as he’d already done, injure their captive.

But how? How had he been able to enter the room and get behind Loki to hurt him? And exactly how had he been able to injure him in such a way as to cause this almost overwhelming agony?

As if reading his mind, Charles reached behind Loki and then there was more pain, but then his hands reappeared and he was holding a knife whose long blade was scarlet and dotted with tiny white grains. Salt, Loki recognised, and his entire body went cold. He glanced down at his stomach and found blood soaking the lower half of his tunic. He didn’t dare pull it up – he hated the sight of blood and didn’t trust himself not to throw up at the sight. Instead, he focused the magic he’d used to create the doppelganger on healing the injury and spent several long seconds concentrating on his breathing as the pain intensified.

Only when he finished healing did he lift his tunic, and found soft, pale skin with no sign of any injury. He glanced up at his captors and smirked. “You didn’t expect that, did you?” he said.

Tommy, still grinning from the sick joke that was Loki’s former pain, took the blade from Charles and passed him the metal stick instead. “Actually, we did some research – a lot of papers on you, a lot of people have been trying to figure out what you are so they can kill you. But see, I don’t care about killing you. You know what I do care about? Pain. All the pain I can cause you before you die, _if_ you can even die. And if you can’t? All the better for me, all the worse for you. Let’s get started, shall we?”

“Actually, I think you’ll find-.” Loki was cut off by Charles as he made loud shushing noises through pursed lips. “Oh yes, that’s so-!” Charles shushed him again, and raised the stick to emphasise his point. Loki glared up at him but stayed silent, flashing briefly back to the excruciating pain which came with his last display of defiance. He waited for the weapon to be lowered again, and as he stared at it he noticed the twin prongs on the end aimed at him. It wasn’t like any weapon he’d ever seen in Odin’s armoury; the prongs weren’t particularly sharp, just enough to pierce through skin but cause no real damage. Considering they’d already stabbed him, he couldn’t decipher their reasoning for having something so harmless. Something at the back of his mind – perhaps something from his childhood studies – warned him against his nonchalance. There were places in any body which could not withstand even a light stabbing. He had nerves and arteries which, if sliced, could cause serious pain and damage, even death if he didn’t heal quickly enough.

He inched towards one of the side walls, keeping all of his captors in sight while glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to ensure there wasn’t a fourth waiting to reveal themselves. But his attempts only resulted in his captors trapping him in one corner like a beast, their weapons raised. Tommy now held a thick rope in one hand and when he caught Loki watching it warily, he brought his other hand up and stretched the rope out. “Arms up, monster, don’t make this more difficult than it has to be,” he said through a smirk.

Loki bared his teeth and held his hands close. “Don’t touch me,” he hissed. They ignored him and tried to reach out, but he pulled roughly back and, when they tried again, threw himself at Tommy’s legs.

Taken off guard, the man stumbled and only just managed to catch himself before he fell, but in the time it took him to regain his balance Loki ran for the door. He paused long enough to fire off a doppelganger, who he sent running at the door while he stopped to fight – he briefly considered running himself while leaving the doppelganger behind, but he wanted to see the men suffer, to see how they liked it. He threw one quick punch at Charles, catching him in the cheek and causing him to stumble to the side with the power, but he stayed standing which was more than Loki had expected. Even with a second punch to the same place, Charles didn’t fall – he recovered quickly and swung out himself, and Loki could only dodge out of the way. His weakness was a result of the blood loss and lack of food, he decided quickly; they’d been starving him for what could easily be days or weeks and what little energy he’d been able to retain had been used to heal his wounds. He wouldn’t be able to survive long in a fight, he knew this, so he focused all of his attention on Charles – Tommy and the other man were preoccupied with the doppelganger who, despite its translucence, seemed to be winning.

The fight was over quickly. Very quickly. The moment Charles’ metal stick caught him in the ribs, Loki found himself overcome with pain up and down his torso, and found that he had little control over his body. He hit the ground hard and his body thrashed despite his best efforts to stop. What had they done to him? His body wasn’t supposed to betray him like this. He tried to choke out a protest but his throat wouldn’t respond. Instead he could only whine through his teeth until the pain receded and the twitches stilled. “What?” he mumbled exhaustedly, the single word escaping as a long, incomprehensible slur.  

“Electricity is a funny thing, isn’t it? And you don’t have it where you come from, so this is all new to you. Hurts, doesn’t it?” Tommy sneered. He crouched next to Loki and tied his wrists together, smirking when he received no fighting. “I bet you’re wondering why this is so easy for us. I’d explain it to you but I don’t think you’re in any state to understand me. Let’s just say that up there?” He pointed a thin metal pipe in one corner of the room. “It keeps you gassed. Fun, huh?”

Loki growled like an animal as the strength started to return to his body. Of course, how could he have failed to realise that he was being drugged? How could he have missed such an obvious clue as the suspiciously placed pipe?

Tommy then turned to the third man in the room. This was the man who looked least comfortable with the situation, but that wasn’t to say he wasn’t enjoying it. Rather he just looked bored, leaning against one of the walls with his arms crossed and his head back. At the attention, he straightened up and grinned. “This next part is his favourite,” Tommy said and pointed with his thumb.

The man nodded once and reached into a pocket. He pulled out a small clear sack, the kind that Loki had seen used for groceries in his limited time on Midgard. “You’ll behave while I do this, won’t you?” the man asked rhetorically and approached Loki. He straightened the sack out and held it up. In one quick move, it was tight over Loki’s head and he couldn’t breathe.

When Stark first demonstrated the tracking device SHIELD had planted on Loki, Thor laughed so hard he choked on his drink. He’d explained to them that if Loki didn’t want to be found then a petty device would be useless. Now though, he regretted laughing at it. If they hadn’t planted the device in the first place then Loki might still be lost or worse.

Stark was able to track Loki to a country house in the middle of a forest, and that was enough for Thor to lose what little composure he’d been able to retain. Yes, Loki was a solitary man, but Midgard was the last place he would go to be alone. This meant only one thing, and it was just what he’d suspected since Loki’s disappearance – his brother was a prisoner. Of course he was, he was always a prisoner.

After several searches of the house, Thor found a lower level with what looked like a single room surrounded by hallway and four doors, one on each side. He barely paused before he kicked one of them open. As he did, he froze.

His eyes were firstly drawn to his brother – cross legged in the middle of the room as if he was deep in thought - and his bruised skin and bloody hands. Then the blood covering the floor, so much blood that it was pooled in several areas. Then the three dead men bleeding from innumerable wounds, their blue lips and the burns on their faces. They weren’t just dead, they’d been tortured.

Loki offered him a shaky smile. “Brother mine, what a surprise,” he said, his voice weak and gravelly as if he’d been screaming or choking. Maybe both, from the rapidly fading bruises around his neck. His eyes were red where they weren’t black.

“Brother, what did they do to you?” Thor asked when he’d gotten over the shock of the sight. He didn’t know which sight was more disturbing – the clear injuries to his brother or what he’d done to those men.

“Nothing at all,” Loki said, then paused, “or at least, nothing that matters now. I’m almost healed already. Help me up, will you?” He held one arm out, which Thor took and pulled him to his feet. Before Thor could question him, he was heading for the door.

He stopped long enough to shoot lightning at the bodies, burning them to ashes. “If I am freed then you should be too,” he whispered numbly. “I only wish you could have suffered more.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
